Monthly Archives: August 2010

Sometimes the sermon I prepare to give turns out not to be the most obvious or maybe even the right one for the day. Lots of folks in my congregation were celebrating the decision overturning Prop. 8 here in California that came last Wednesday afternoon, just as I was finishing up a writing process that because of other commitments needed to be finished. I wondered this morning, would it still be OK to preach what I had, which was something darker? But this is what came forth and I reminded myself, you never know what will speak to someone’s deepest need. May the secret alchemy of words and breath and presence of the gathered community be what is needed here and now.

Peace,

Rev. Laura

***

“Surprise!”: Healing from Sudden Loss

The Rev. Laura Horton-Ludwig, Minister
First Unitarian Universalist Church of Stockton
August 8, 2010

The poet Mary Oliver has told us,
in those words we just shared together:

To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.
(Mary Oliver, “In Blackwater Woods.”)

And this is hard enough, isn’t it?
This is the work of a lifetime,
and I’m not sure it ever gets easier,
though, with grace and practice, we may get better at it.

It’s harder still when the loss takes us by surprise. Continue reading →